Ballkeeper

Overall★★★★★★★★★★4.08
Fun★★★★★★★★★★4.02
Innovation★★★★★★★★★★3.67
Theme★★★★★★★★★★3.09
Graphics★★★★★★★★★★3.64
Audio★★★★★★★★★★3.60
Humor★★★★★★★★★★1.73
Mood★★★★★★★★★★3.31
Coolness★★★★★★★★★★100%
You only get one ball, so better don't lose it. You can rotate the field with your mouse after you allowed your Browser to hide the cursor. If you finish a ring a new ring will appear, helping you to keep your ball even longer.

Currently only runs in Chrome with WebGL. A bug in Dart prevents PointerLock to work cross-browser. I filed a bug, as soon as this is fixed I'll update the game. It also doesn't seem to run well on older integrated Intel graphic cards.

Please don't rate the game solely on the video. It's about PLAYING the game :)

screenshot

Comments97

Shigor
Shigor16 Dec 2013, 03:30
Very nice take on the old time classic!
capnramses
capnramses16 Dec 2013, 11:11
really nicely done variation on the block-destructor type of games. also webgl was a nice choice!
DanielVF
DanielVF16 Dec 2013, 12:44
The funnest game I've played in the competition yet. Easy to pick up, easy to keep playing, and a the gameplay gives a nice strategic goal in that you have to work on picking out the smallest ring pieces.
xgeovanni16 Dec 2013, 12:56
Had three tries at this, got 113 on my last. Lovely game, very aesthetically solid.
ovenchips
ovenchips16 Dec 2013, 16:29
Very nice, well done. You should work on getting this up and running on mobile - would be cool to see how a touch interface would feel. Smart choice to use WebGL!
oldmanbiles17 Dec 2013, 01:29
Brilliant, I need this on my phone as soon as possible please ;)
goyal
goyal17 Dec 2013, 04:33
Nicely done! Everything felt so smooth and fluid. Music is awesome too.
Got up to 173 then I killed myself, wanted to see the ending :)
xrm0
xrm017 Dec 2013, 12:12
This is the best entry I've played so far
Gareth Jenkins17 Dec 2013, 12:52
Fantastic stuff -- great work.

First mouse-controlled game that works better with a touchpad IMO.
cappelnord
cappelnordauthor17 Dec 2013, 13:01
Gareth, I agree! It probably would work even better with a touchscreen device!
chardish
chardish17 Dec 2013, 17:26
This is a lot of fun! Would be fun to hook up a Beatmania or DJ Hero turntable controller to this game and see how it plays with that. Very well polished.
StMatn17 Dec 2013, 18:12
Wow! Great game!
I first watched the gameplay video and thought this would be way too hard, but I got 193 on my first playthrough :)
The graphics and sound are really fitting and the control couldnt be better in my opinion.
I would love to see a mobile version of this. It would be a really great game for short breaks.
Awesome work!
SiENcE17 Dec 2013, 19:17
Keept me longer playing :) . Very nice adaption!
Pixelulsar
Pixelulsar17 Dec 2013, 21:54
Its very relaxing, and its a cool spin on brick breaking games.
robhor
robhor18 Dec 2013, 00:03
Awesome game! The others are right, a mobile version would be nice :)
Rixel18 Dec 2013, 00:49
Got to 192 on my third try! :D great game (:
Lipedal
Lipedal18 Dec 2013, 01:03
Easy to learn, easy to play, easy to like.
Awesome job! Really fluid game.
Raiyumi
Raiyumi18 Dec 2013, 01:49
Great game, really fun! Would be perfect for mobile.
nicotr01418 Dec 2013, 02:48
This is a really nice spin on Breakout ... got 221
Exclamation Mark18 Dec 2013, 03:02
FUN! everything just clicks and fits together here! the simple design, the sounds, the controls. Excellent work! (oh, and it worked perfectly fine on my Intel HD4000)
madlee
madlee18 Dec 2013, 05:11
Yeah, this is good stuff. I don't necessarily think its a great use of the theme, but its a lot of fun and well done.
Killswitch18 Dec 2013, 05:28
I got hi-score of 082. :)
ColdBrain
ColdBrain18 Dec 2013, 05:45
I really like it!!!
angelk18 Dec 2013, 05:45
I died at 137 every time :) I like the clean visual style and simple to learn, difficult to master gameplay. Good job!
CatskullTeam18 Dec 2013, 07:50
Very funny and innovative game, kepp it up!
junt7418 Dec 2013, 09:10
Really awesome style , and gameplay is very addictive. Congrats!
Sylence18 Dec 2013, 09:12
Could play this for hours :)
acerunox
acerunox18 Dec 2013, 09:33
Great game! I got 281. :)
joe40001
joe4000118 Dec 2013, 10:14
Well dang, you won. :P

Seriously though, make a few tweaks and put this on the google play store. It's the perfect kind of game like that. Good job.
Diptoman
Diptoman18 Dec 2013, 10:31
LOADS of fun, impressive stuff!
Lizzip18 Dec 2013, 10:31
Very nicely made, feels polished and interesting
glovecat
glovecat18 Dec 2013, 11:00
wow! It stucked me playing and got 250 the last time :)
really good work!
raarlac18 Dec 2013, 11:28
298 on first try. online highscores would be a nice add
cappelnord
cappelnordauthor18 Dec 2013, 11:35
@raarlac I agree! But it was out of scope for the 48h comp and it's hard to make it in a way you can't cheat.
Thecoolestnerdguys
Thecoolestnerdguys18 Dec 2013, 13:31
Very very cool game!
My highscore is currently 143 =P
It took me a while to figure out how to control the game. Using the mouse kinda sucks. Maybe the arrow keys would be better?
Also, why it doesn't work on other browsers? It should work on Opera, at least, as it uses the same rendering engine as Chrome and the same Javascript engine (V8).
cappelnord
cappelnordauthor18 Dec 2013, 13:50
@Thecoolestnerdguys V8 isn't the reason why it currently only works in Chrome, it's PointerLock. More specifically, that one of the external libraries I use only knows about the webkit prefixed version of PointerLock. As porting to other platforms is OK I might try to fix the library, then it should work great in Opera, and probably Firefox as well.
cappelnord
cappelnordauthor18 Dec 2013, 14:25
I actually filed a bug against Dart now. As soon as this gets fixed I'll see that I update the game.
Ras Lyon18 Dec 2013, 14:42
Wow... 48 hours? This is excellent. Solid, all the way around. Thanks for the game!
xk
xk18 Dec 2013, 16:43
Great gameplay! Got me hooked for half an hour!
occash18 Dec 2013, 17:19
I ike it!Very good graphics! Thanks for good mood)
JackBid18 Dec 2013, 17:52
one of the best games in the competition that I have played so far! I love the graphics, audio and game play, well done!
sekaru
sekaru18 Dec 2013, 18:00
Nice and simplistic, great atmosphere too.
Ashedragon
Ashedragon18 Dec 2013, 18:03
Wow, I really enjoyed this! Great job.
polux18 Dec 2013, 18:04
Nice variation!
daredevildave18 Dec 2013, 18:13
Super fun. It's got a breakout and super hexagon-type feel to it. Agree that it would be great on a touch device too. Well Done.
gamepopper
gamepopper18 Dec 2013, 18:36
Shame you couldn't make this game work on other web browsers. I've given up on Chrome as it keeps freezing on me on certain pages.
jomomomo
jomomomo18 Dec 2013, 18:45
262! Nice job, this might be really fun on a mobile device...
Tyu
Tyu18 Dec 2013, 18:51
I like this one! A simple game yet nice looking and addictive.
rnlf
rnlf18 Dec 2013, 18:59
Ha, great game. Actually really playable and addictive!
Dynad
Dynad18 Dec 2013, 19:50
Very cool game, graphics and sound are very well made ;)
Arkrothe18 Dec 2013, 20:09
Such an awesome game ^_^ Love it!!!
garygreen
garygreen18 Dec 2013, 20:34
Really liked this innovative twist on breakout, the simple but stylish graphics and the music.
FrozenCow18 Dec 2013, 20:38
Such a nice concept. It gets harder as you go as a result of the concept. It also looks and sounds pretty awesome. With the simple controls this could be a good mobile game too.
Jhelle
Jhelle18 Dec 2013, 20:56
Simple, enjoyable and polished. Ball seemed to have some weird trajectories while rotating.
Sytech18 Dec 2013, 21:07
Really interesting take on Break out and nice music!
Aaants
Aaants18 Dec 2013, 21:30
Loved this one. Had a classroom full of students have a pop at it today too :)
Carduus18 Dec 2013, 21:38
Impressive, i really like the game concept, nice job buddy !
lasagnegames
lasagnegames18 Dec 2013, 22:20
Very polished, minimalistic, sophisticated graphic style, and the game is simply addictive, you should make a Ios/Android version.
Ithildin
Ithildin18 Dec 2013, 22:24
Brilliant variation on a classic. Great job :)
lennaert
lennaert18 Dec 2013, 23:21
Pretty solid and enjoyable. I felt reasonably challenged and it was easy to just pick up and play.
OriginalBigDan
OriginalBigDan19 Dec 2013, 00:00
Please port this to mobile and make millions. Really addictive and came back for a few more goes!

Some velocity-based/combo based SFX modifiers might be nice? It felt like the rotation skewed the direction of the ball, although that may have been a visual trick?
cappelnord
cappelnordauthor19 Dec 2013, 00:24
@OriginalBigDan yeah, it's just an illusion, I was confused myself several times about that :)
ThatGuy19 Dec 2013, 06:41
Very well done and very solid game. Great work! I hope you're planning on porting it to mobile.
Dir3kt
Dir3kt19 Dec 2013, 12:48
Very neat this on an old idea! I like minimalist design (graphic and mechanic) and this game didn't disappoint. I enjoyed a lot playing. The only thing I didn't liked has been the slow difficulty curve. I would have preferred a more brutal game otherwise beginning feel like a farm.
TheSnide
TheSnide19 Dec 2013, 12:53
Well done Minimalism.
SecondDimension
SecondDimension19 Dec 2013, 12:58
Very slick presentation, nice work. The twist of just having one ball worked well, this is a really good entry
_zulli19 Dec 2013, 13:02
Great game! Really really addictive! :O I' loved the way you can make different strategies!

If you have time, please consider rating my game! I would really appreciate it :)
ResonantCraft
ResonantCraft19 Dec 2013, 13:27
Well done, this is a very pleasant, polished game.
Fadobo19 Dec 2013, 15:00
Genius twist of the breakout formula! If you ever make a mobile version, I'd pay money for it!
natpat
natpat19 Dec 2013, 15:38
That was really good fun. I got a bit conufsed about when the ball was going up and when it was going down, but I got it figured out eventually.
brogrammers19 Dec 2013, 16:26
Wow, wow, wow, wow, super fun and ultra original
dinos
dinos19 Dec 2013, 16:54
The best game I have played so far for Ludum Dare 28.
Mago19 Dec 2013, 18:08
Awesome game. great idea and very polished game.
Dixum19 Dec 2013, 18:28
Simplistic but great fun! Some more variation would have been nice but overall a polished game :)
GFM
GFM19 Dec 2013, 21:21
Amazing game!
It's a lot polished and fun, I'm really amazed!
You took an old game and made something really great and new out of it!

Congrats! =D
iiechapman
iiechapman19 Dec 2013, 23:22
Solid entry. Mouse is a little floaty but the music is great, gameplay is fun. title slide, and game over slide great. Even better if there where more colors, or if they changed while your score went up! Great Job!
dsoft20
dsoft2020 Dec 2013, 13:03
Very nice and solid gameplay :D I think that it will be a great mobile title :D
Nelien
Nelien20 Dec 2013, 16:14
Great entry! My girlfriend would like a fully featured version of this if you develop it further :P
Symmeteer20 Dec 2013, 23:15
Fun and polished! Well done. My only critique is that the mouse input was a bit unintuitive. It's not always clear when how much you need to move your mouse to keep the circle rotating in a certain direction.
IHateATMFees
IHateATMFees21 Dec 2013, 01:19
This looks and feels as good as a number of commercial releases, the polish is excellent!
timtipgames
timtipgames21 Dec 2013, 18:40
Great concept, just steal some breaktout powerup ideas and this will be even better! Would also be great on mobile devices I think!
lordjosephdeburg
lordjosephdeburg21 Dec 2013, 20:49
Excellent game and very addicting. I expect this one will do well! nice one cappelnord
Noah Ratcliff
Noah Ratcliff22 Dec 2013, 22:23
Very awesome! I'm a huge sucker for minimalistic and simplistic graphics like that, combined with the soft ping of the ball and the very smooth control scheme this game makes for one of my LD favorites. Bookmarked!
Benjamin24 Dec 2013, 12:21
Wow great gameplay... Sometime the ball get stuck into the bricks and behave strangely if you turn too fast but apart of that the collision engine works great.
oxysoft
oxysoft27 Dec 2013, 00:22
Very nice game, got 190!
Xaychru04
Xaychru043 Jan 2014, 22:12
Whoa, cool concept. The game is really dynamic, a bit hard to control at first, but I had a lot of fun, my best score is 117!
rxi5 Jan 2014, 16:11
Really fun and simple concept -- the score text and the background did not show for me, but I think I got a good feel for what the game was going for and had a lot of fun playing it.

In a way it may be fortunate that the score was not visible on my computer. If it were I could easily see this game becoming a thief of my time; I imagine I'd sit down for a quick play of it and before I know it realise the room is dark and I've lost an entire evening. The pleasant music and "tap" sound of the ball hitting a block, and the satisfaction of trapping the ball between two rings and trying to keep it under control as it bounced in a crazed fit between them, happily destroying blocks at a furious pace made this a joy to play.

If this game were expanded on with things like powerups and combos, a few different songs, a main menu, and a highscore board, I could see it easily becoming a hit. This is definitely something that should be made into a post competition version if you have the time and the will!

Overall really nice work!
aviktorov
aviktorov5 Jan 2014, 16:23
Nice graphics! Got 192 on my second try. If you'll move the level fast enough you can get bigger scores. Well done!
BradleySmith
BradleySmith6 Jan 2014, 16:47
Really neat idea. Rated highly. :)

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